Multi-depth switching by triple wavefront modulation of quarter-waveplate geometric phase lenses for vergence-accommodation-matching extended reality

Jung-Yeop Shin; Jae-Won Lee; Hafiz Saad Khaliq; Erkhembaatar Dashdavaa; Munkh-Uchral Erdenebat; Min-Seok Kim; Jin-Hyeok Seo; Young-Min Cho; Hak-Rin Kim

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-02026-2

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Multi-depth switching by triple wavefront modulation of quarter-waveplate geometric phase lenses for vergence-accommodation-matching extended reality

Original Articles

- Multi-depth switching by triple wavefront modulation of quarter-waveplate geometric phase lenses for vergence-accommodation-matching extended reality
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 11, Pages: 3566-3580(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
  2.Center for Semiconductor-Specialized University, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
  3.School of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
- Author bio：
  
  Hak-Rin Kim (rineey@knu.ac.kr)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-02026-2
  CLC：
- Received：08 April 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-08-20，
  
  Accepted：25 August 2025，
  
  Published Online：19 September 2025，
  
  Published：30 November 2025
- Accepted：
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Shin, J. Y. et al. Multi-depth switching by triple wavefront modulation of quarter-waveplate geometric phase lenses for vergence-accommodation-matching extended reality. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3566-3580 (2025).
DOI：

Shin, J. Y. et al. Multi-depth switching by triple wavefront modulation of quarter-waveplate geometric phase lenses for vergence-accommodation-matching extended reality. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3566-3580 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-02026-2.

摘要

Abstract

We present a novel approach to resolving the vergence–accommodation conflict (VAC) in extended reality (XR) optics by introducing a quarter-waveplate (QWP) geometric phase lens (GPL) capable of

triple wavefront modulation—focusing

defocusing

and non-modulating at infinity. This polarization-driven behavior is interpreted using contour trajectories on the Poincaré sphere and compared against conventional half-waveplate (HWP) GPLs. Leveraging this property

we propose a bi-stacked QWP GPL module that enables nine distinct varifocal states through polarization-controlled input selection and output filtering. In contrast

HWP-based modules under equivalent stacking conditions are limited to four focal states. The QWP GPL module supports a compact varifocal system spanning a continuous depth range from 24.27 cm to infinity

with a 0.3-diopter interval aligned with the human visual comfort zone. Importantly

the number of representable focal depths scales as 3

for

stacked layers

offering a (1.5)

-fold improvement over the 2

scaling of HWP systems. This enables finer depth transitions using fewer lens units while retaining both compactness and optical modularity

establishing a depth-switchable imaging platform that enhances visual comfort and depth fidelity in next-generation XR display systems.

关键词

Keywords

references

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